LAUNCH Chattanooga, CO.LAB win $450,000 Kauffman award

The Kauffman Foundation has awarded LAUNCH Chattanooga and CO.LAB a combined $452,750 over a two-year period to expand support for women and minority entrepreneurs in the Chattanooga area.

The funds will enable LAUNCH to increase the depth of the services it provides to underserved entrepreneurs in Chattanooga and to expand its programming to communities across the country. CO.LAB will utilize the grant to partner more directly with LAUNCH, provide childcare to participants in certain programs, conduct more targeted outreach efforts, and provide small grants to select LAUNCH graduates who participate in the CO.LAB Accelerator.

LAUNCH and CO.LAB are two of only 12 entrepreneurial support organizations across the U.S. to receive the Kauffman Inclusion Challenge grants and the only recipients in Tennessee. The funds are designed to equip the awardees with funds to help women and minorities achieve higher rates of success in entrepreneurship. More than 376 organizations applied for the grants, which will serve sectors in 13 states across the U.S.